The com­plainant, Jagdeep Singh Gill, chair­man, Sa­ma­jik Jagriti Front, Ja­graon, had stated in the pe­ti­tion filed on Oc­to­ber 5, 2018, that the Badals, who were in power in the state from 2007-2017, had failed to main­tain law and or­der.

Af­ter the sac­ri­lege on Oc­to­ber 10, 2015, the Sikh com­mu­nity had started a peace­ful dharna in Be­hbal Kalan vil­lage, when they were fired upon.

“The po­lice came to the spot. They were armed and di­rected the gath­er­ing to va­cate the area. Af­ter the pro­test­ers re­fused, the po­lice lathi-charged them and fired, as a re­sult of which two per­sons were killed,” stated the pe­ti­tion.

It added, “The mo­tive of the Badals in or­der­ing fir­ing was to get po­lit­i­cal ben­e­fits and gains.”

Gill had pleaded that the Badals may be sum­moned un­der sec­tions 304 (cul­pa­ble homi­cide not amount­ing to mur­der), 307 (at­tempt to mur­der), 295 (in­sult­ing re­li­gion) and 34 (acts done by sev­eral per­sons in fur­ther­ance of com­mon in­ten­tion) of the In­dian Pe­nal Code.

The court, af­ter hear­ing two wit­nesses, found that there was no sub­stan­tial ev­i­dence to corroborate the al­le­ga­tions of the pe­ti­tioner, who was not present on the spot.